Chapter Text
Blood dried between the cracks of his boots when he walked into his safehouse. It had to be a safehouse, otherwise it'd be his home and Jason wasn't ready for that. The 18th apartment on the 7th floor held his things and, otherwise, served no purpose. He'd probably have to move as soon as Bats started digging through Arkham’s security footage anyway. Or… the Red Hood could just put a bullet through him if he turned up. Oh, he liked that idea a lot.
Smiling, he tossed the helmet somewhere he didn't have to think about it and peeled off the mask. Jason threw himself onto the couch and tilted his head. Air filled his lungs in a cleaner, purer way. The green dimmed and the shadows on the edges of his vision seemed to move more naturally than before. Whatever monsters lurked in the green were asleep and peace seeded itself in Jason's heart for the first time since he’d woken up with green liquid sliding off him.
Left hurt more. Backhand hurt more. 'A' hurt more.
Jason made sure Joker got those answers for himself. His boots squelched against the hardwood floor. Scrubbing out the blood stains was going to be a nightmare. Half a second later, he decided that he didn't want any of Joker's blood in the safehouse. He wouldn't be haunting anymore of his days. Jason tossed the boots into the bath, ran the water and got a towel. Getting to his hands and knees he wiped the floor clean. Dry blood took longer to clean than wet blood. A few wipes and the towel became a collage of various reds and blacks while the floor stayed dirty brown.
Jason opened a window and got a lighter. He burned the towel on the windowsill. No one would think twice about it in Crime Alley. Orange flames reached for the sky while whatever part of the towel hadn’t been stained, blackened. In a moment of closed eyes, Jason woke up to a smoldering lump and a dark sky. He turned the T.V. on and waited for the news to be reported. It was in the corner of the room so he wouldn't need much attention to understand what was going on. Bruce would be proud of the placement, it was efficient . It even left a gap between it and the wall to hide things behind in a quick throw.
He cursed when he felt the craving for actual food. In these kinds of moments, he missed the manor. Not Bruce. He missed Alfred though. Him and the rich-person library Bruce inherited.
Jason peeled his gloves off and washed his hands clean. Starting on dinner, he pulled out all the right ingredients for a fresh meal. Half-way through wrapping the meat up in dough, he heard the first alarm go off. He checked the cameras but saw nothing, even as the next set of alarms went off. Only one person should be capable of pulling that off. Well, only if he discluded the League, but they wouldn’t need to sneak around. They knew where he was. Another string of curses slipped and Jason abandoned the counter to find that stupid helmet again. Where'd he put it?
He threw blankets and pillows. He pulled out a chair before finding it behind the T.V. and he slammed it on with another curse.
"Red Hood."
He knew it. Only Batman could maintain such a gravelly voice. "Bats," he said. He tried summoning the green, but it'd been too settled and he couldn't rile it up. Facing Batman without it seemed lukewarm. He growled, keeping his back to the man and a hand at one of the many holsters he still had on. At least he could still force his body to tense up in response to the man he'd just ticked off.
"You killed the Joker." No one moved.
He had his hand on the gun. He didn’t pull it out yet. Just in case… "Fuck yeah, I did. I just did the world a fucking service."
"Thank you." Well, that wasn't something Batman said.
He'd turned and pointed the gun at Batman before he could process what he'd done. The man never flinched and Jason ignored how Bat's gaze focused more on the gun than him. "I'm sorry," Jason said, twisting his words into a sharp dagger, "What did you just say?"
"Thank you, Hood."
"No." Jason steadied his hand. "You don't get to say fucking thank you. You could've fucking done it too. You kept him alive, bastard. I should kill you too."
"Please don't." Batman hadn't stopped looking at the gun.
"And why the hell not?" He ignored league training and followed gun safety protocol by steadying his aim with both hands. It was just for safety. "Aren't you here to put me in Arkham too?"
Finally, Batman looked at him. "You're name's Red Hood."
"So fucking what?"
"Are you following in Joker's footsteps?" Bat's hand hovered over where Jason knew he kept batarangs.
"Fuck no!"
Batman retracted his hand. "I didn't think so." Jason was intimately aware that the stoic expression was sizing him up and down somehow. "You're doing a lot of good I can't do."
Jason scoffed, lowering the gun. At least the bastard knew he sucked. Wait—did that make him even worse? The green was still out like a drugged victim and Jason needed to decide for his own. "Because you're a stubborn prick who's got a stick up his ass about morals?"
"I can't kill, Hood."
"Even for Robin?" The words slipped out and finally, Batman flinched like he actually cared. Man, when did B get so good at pretending. Then again, he'd been pretending the whole time Jason was with him, didn't he. Pretending he actually cared. Pretending he saw him as a son. Pretending he did Gotham any good. All playing pretend family with his little soldiers. "The good soldier he was."
"Not even for my son, " Bats emphasized like it meant something. "You saw what happened when he died. I can't be that again."
And Jason had seen it. He’d seen how quickly little Tim Drake jumped onto the roofs in his colors. He saw how Batman took on another soldier after having lost his second. And then there was they way the boy had stolen his home and whatever scraps of family he could’ve begged for. "Oh, I don't know. Seems like you replaced him easily enough."
Batman stepped closer. "Robin is not a replacement!"
"Oof, Bats be careful. It's starting to sound like you care about the little tike." Jason said, doing his best at putting faux cheerfulness in his words. Bats was painting a bright red, yellow and green target on this Robin’s back too.
"You protect kids," Bats said. The man put his arms up pretending to surrender. Batman never surrendered. "I want to make a deal."
"Fuck no. I don't make deals with monsters like you."
Bats didn't bat an eye. "You'll approve of this one. We'll stay out of Crime Alley. You get free reign so long as you don’t do anything too extreme."
Well, that was a surprise. Jason didn't think that was an option. Then he remembered who he was talking to. "And what do you want from me? To tone down the violence? Stop killing people? I'm not doing that."
"No. I want you to protect Robin. If there's a contract on him, take out whoever placed the hit. If he runs off to some faroff place and is being manipulated, take care of him." Bats had been coming closer and Jason hadn't even noticed. "If I ever step out of line, put a bullet in me." Bat’s chest made contact to the barrel. Huh. Jason hadn’t realized he was taller than Bruce.
Jason couldn't suppress the smirk itching at him. Oh, the pleasures of having a full-face mask and Batman was asking him to do the dirty work for him. "And If I'm the one wanting to clip your little birdie's wings?"
"You won't. You protect kids."
Jason rolled his shoulders and removed the gun from the man’s chest, pointing it at the gun for now. He’d been swinging a crowbar most of the morning. "Still, protecting Robin is a little—"
At least Bats caught on quickly. "What else do you want?"
Go back in time and kill Joker, he didn’t say. "Give me the Bowery, Narrows and Gotham Village." Jason could start with that. He’d get the rest of Gotham later when he was a little more established.
Bats, of course, was too possessive. "We’ll need to pass through those areas. You’ll be blocking most of Gotham"
"Go through Arkham then. You're crazy enough for it."
"Says the pretend drug lord."
“On second thought, maybe I’ll take the bird out myself. Should be fun."
"You don't hurt kids," the Bat growled.
Jason shrugged. “I’ve got my rules but there’s always a first.”
“If I go through Arkham, that means I have to bring Robin with me.”
Even now, Bats used Robin as leverage. Great to know the bastard had never changed. "Fine. Bats and Bats affiliated get free passes through Gotham Village—but it's mine."
"And you'll protect Robin?"
No. He’d keep Robin safe only if he accidentally heard something. Bruce didn’t need to know about it and as long as he couldn’t prove that Hood knew about something, it wouldn’t hurt anybody. "Sure—Whatever. Get out of here." But, of course, Bats was already gone.